You love spending the day at the beach with your friends. You get to take a fun, relaxing dip in the soothing waves and then relax in the sun as you dry off and read that new book you just picked up— at least that's how you imagine it in your head. But let's face it, a trip to the beach is never all sun and relaxation. There are actually some real struggles that come with all that fun in the sun.

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1. Your sandals completely fail at keeping the hot sand from burning your feet. Even if you wear your flip-flops to walk from your towel to the edge of the water, hotsand gets in between your feet and your sandal, and you feel like you're literally walking across hot coals. You end up trying to disperse the heat evenly as you walk, like:

2. There's TONS of space on the beach but a family with four kids and a dog plops down right next to you and your friends. You get it's a public beach, but there is SO MUCH OPEN SPACE!

3. You get your period. Worst. Timing. EVER. You have to walk like a mile to the public bathroom and if you don't have a tampon in your beach bag, you're totally screwed. It's like your body is rebelling against you!

4. The bathrooms are absolutely horrendous and wet. The fact that your skin is 90% bare makes it even more gross.

5. It ends up taking you an hour to get in the water because it's, like, 30 degrees below zero. You'd be a lot better at riding the waves if you weren't shivering.

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6. When you get wet, the sunblock on your face drips into your eye. It's literally the most painful thing you've ever experienced, especially when it mixes with salt water.

7. You try to read your new book while you dry off, but the sun is shining directly in your eyes.

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8. The lines for the unmissable beach treats (soft serve ice cream, fried dough, and taffy, obvs) are impossibly long. Did everyone decide to get up and get ice cream at the exact same time as you?

9. If you wear glasses, you have to take them off before you get in the water. Then you feel completely lost and confused if your friends drift more than 2 feet away from you.

10. You will inevitably wipe out tragically on a wave you didn't see coming. Most likely at the precise moment that hot guy you've been eyeing pays you the slightest bit of attention.

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11. And then said wave ruins the epic sand sculpture you built with your friends earlier. That's the last time you channel your childhood.

12. Seagulls are constantly attacking you and your food. One sniff of a turkey sandwich and seagulls completely lose their cool. They will not leave you alone until they convince you the sandwich you packed that morning rightfully belongs to them.

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13. You think your beach hair looks stunning while you're drying off on your towel, but then you look at yourself in the mirror later and realize you have a nest on your head. Why didn't anyone give you a heads up?!

14. Your bathing suit will find some way to betray you. Either the top comes untied, and you have to tie it behind your back without anyone noticing, all stealth-like, and if the wind is really rough, your bottoms come undone in the water and you have to swim around all panicked trying to find them. Or, if you wear a one-piece, it'll give the most out of control wedgie known to man.

15. Someone shakes their towel off near you and launches what feels like 10 pounds of sand all over you. The number one rule of beach-going: Don't shake your towel sand on innocent bystanders. Come on now!

16. No matter how hard you try to clean yourself off, sand ends up all over your car. And your car ends up smelling salty and wet for, like, three years post beach trip.

17. Which is why nobody in your friend group ever wants to drive to the beach.

18. You end up with a seriously tragic sunburn. No matter how many times you reapply sunblock, there's always that little tiny strip of skin you miss. Whether it's the strip between your big and second toe or the edge of your armpit, it's always so painful.

But despite the annoyingly inconvenient struggles that come with the sun, water, and sand, a beach day is still always the best day!